Eleven persons killed in three accidents in Telangana
A series of horric accidents in di§erent parts of the State left a trail of death and destruction on Telangana roads, on Thursday.
Six persons were killed when the car they were travelling in crashed into a parked lorry on NH65 at Durgapuram of Kodad mandal, Suryapet in the wee hours of April 25. “The incident occurred when a family of 10 was travelling from Hyderabad to Vijayawada to visit a church. The SUV, travelling at a speed of 100-110 kmph, crashed into the lorry parked by the side of the road. Six persons were killed on the spot and four others were injured,” explained DSP of Kodad M. Sridhar Reddy.
The victims have been identied as Chander Rao, 50, and his wife Manikyamaa, 45, Krishna Raju, 26 and his wife Swarna, 23 along with Rao’s son-in-law Jilla Srikanth, 32 and his 4year-old daughter Lassya.
Four youths lost their lives when the motorcycle they were riding collided with a private travel bus near Akeru bridge on the outskirts of Yellanda village on the Warangal-Khammam national highway. The deceased have been identied as Kashimarla Varuntej (18), Mallepaka
Siddu (18), Ponnam Ganesh (18), and Ponnala Ranil Kumar (18).
In a separate accident, one person died when a car rammed a stationary lorry on the ORR near Muthangi.
“The car, with the driver inside, got burnt in the re that followed and e§orts are on to identify the victim,” Patancheru SHO Praveen Reddy said.
According to the police, the lorry was parked in the emergency lane when the car travelling from Medchal to Patancheru crashed into it from behind.
Three high-speed accidents within a span of a 48 hours, killing 11 persons, has brought back spotlight to the state of obedience to trac rules. All three accidents, two in Suryapet, and one on the ORR, involved stationary vehicles and cars driven at high speed ramming into them from the rear. “We have conducted a series of road safety programmes in January and February. We involved police ocials, schoolchildren, youth and media to spread the message of road safety. We constituted District Road Safety Committees in all the districts. We carried out special enforcements,” said Mamata Prasad of Telangana Transport Department.
“The accidents were basically due to human error and negligence of drivers. When these accidents happen it is heartbreaking,” she said when asked about the deaths on the roads.
In 2022, for which trac accidents data is available, 8,184 persons died on roads in Telangana in 22,235 accidents. Nationally, 1,71,100 persons died in road accidents.
“There is no serious training for drivers of heavy vehicles in India. They need to get the vehicle completely o the road. Motor vehicle safety regulations dictate that they keep a red triangle 50 feet from the vehicle to warn motorists, preferably with a person agging the trafc,” says Malcolm Wolfe who has authored ‘Car Driving School Manual for India’ and does advocacy for road safety.
In all the three recent accidents in Telangana, there were no warning signs or blinking lights kept near the stationary vehicles.
In Suryapet accident, the driver of the lorry Sheelandra Singh, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, was picked up by the police for parking the vehicle illegally.
“People tend to lose concentration while driving on smooth road. It is like a trance and they become comfortable. Something needs to stand out - draw attention. It should give warning to driver when there is a breakdown. Otherwise the results can be disastrous,” warns Mr. Wolfe. With these warning ignored or remaining unknown, the trail of death and destruction on roads is likely to continue in the State.